Juvenile Justice and unjustified attacks on the Judiciary

14 February 2024

The Editor

Courier Mail

It would help if the previous Beattie Labor Government Minister Robert Schwarten referred to some established and indisputable facts in his fact free rhetorical piece “Premier is right to question Judiciary” (Courier Mail 14 February 2024).

I was one of the ‘legal types’ who attacked the Premier for his “disgraceful and gutless” attack on Magistrates for not allowing journalists into the Children’s Court in relation to a recent high profile murder case.

I said that the Premier’s comment that he would “talk to State Attorney‑General Yvette D’Ath about changing Magistrates’ behaviour” to allow journalists more often into the Children’s Court was an unprincipled attack on Judges who are simply doing their job in applying the current State Labor Government’s laws in this area which were supported and voted on by Mr Miles when they were introduced.

Mr Schwarten claims the moral high ground by saying he has been a victim of crime.  So have I.  That doesn’t justify attacks on Lawyers who criticise the Premier for falsely and wrongly attacking Judges who are not allowed to publicly reply and defend themselves against such attacks.

The Premier is justified in saying he will look at law changes in relation to journalists’ ability to report on Children’s Court matters.

However, he is no better than previous LNP Premier Campbell Newman when he attacks Judges for cheap political gain in order to deal with the current law and order public stoush.

Terry O’Gorman